Horus Heresy 2e Review: Horus Aximand

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. Little Horus comes the the Heresy wracked with haunted guilt about the side he has chosen, and armed with Mourn-It-All which is fantastic. A very fluffy choice for the Sons of Horus! 

Background.

Little Horus looked exactly like his gene sire in appearance. He chose to follow the same into Heresy and became a traitor, but was never too sure about his choices. He became wracked with guilt about it, and sought to justify his choice to himself repeatedly, ultimately fighting on Beta-Garmon. He also has a knack for staying alive despite the most grievous wounds. 

Strengths. 

Purely from a points cost point of view, Little Horus is about right for what he brings. He is fundamentally a praetor with a stat line to match. He has a few special rules which are worthy of mention.

His warlord trait let's him return to the game with +1d3 wounds when he first "dies", but not against instant death and similar. 

Mourn-It-All is a very nice blade with a valuable AP2 along with bonus S, and a few special rules which make Little Horus great in close combat against even elite enemies. 

The Castigatus close combat shield on the surface looks good with a 5+ invulnerable save that reflects back attacks at S=4 if he successfully saves with it. But that's about it. It is more of a draw back if you ask me. 

The Haunted special rule is exceptionally circumstantial and represents bonus victory points if Loken is on the opposition. Two bonuses if Horus Aximand does the deed up close and personal. Honestly, it won't happen outside of a narrative game, or that once in a while 3 sigma event!

Weaknesses. 

The warlord trait obviously only effects himself, rather than being a force multiplier. 

The shield should probably just be dropped. He can do better realistically, and it hampers him having two close combat weapons.

Haunted won't happen most of the time unless its forced.

Overall.

Very fluffy! Little Horus is worth the points, and is particularly effective in close combat. You need to get him there. And you need to face off against Loken if you can! It won't happen, but hey, when it does its a dream narrative! 

World Eaters - Half Terminator Squad

One half of my World Eaters terminator squad today!

This is the "ranged" half of the squad with standard combi-bolt guns. The other armaments are either power mauls from the Dark Angels range, or chain fists from the terminator range. The gaming purpose is to give these terminators flexibility to take on dreadnoughts where required thanks to the fists, but to also pose a good strength on the attack thanks to the mauls as well. I really like the Dark Angels range for blending with World Eaters - somehow it just gels magically. 

Painting follows my now standard prescription for the World Eaters. The most fun part of this is the battle damage (sponged on black and grey), as well as dubious quantities of blood for the blood god applied in both a dappled manner, and in streaks and rivulets around key areas. Some of these are on the fists and gloves themselves for obvious reasons. Others are streaked across the miniatures or suggestive of enemies fighting back. Meanwhile the decals feature a mixture of the older iconography, standard crux terminator symbols, and regular legion heraldry as would befit such a force. I am actually aiming for loyalist World Eaters here, but it is hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys with this legion - there's just too much blood to tell them apart successfully! I suppose that's the point!

2025, and a 2024 retrospective

Happy New Year to all my readers - long term and those just joining me!

The past year was busy for a variety of reasons, not least with the slow and steady releases for the Horus Heresy. I aimed to complete an Emperor's Children allied detachment which I happily accomplish with a Sun Killer squad, jump pack assault squad, along with an apothecary and praetor / consul (depending on how I'm playing it). The image below shows the assault squad including the sergeant as an eleventh member. Initially I didn't really want the shields, but they looked so cool that I couldn't go past them. I'm very pleased with the way they all came out, even if they're not totally points cost efficient - but who cares. 

I also commenced a World Eaters allied detachment too. I have the terminator squad at an advanced stage now, but the jump pack assault squad is lagging behind largely thanks to my painting efforts going into a leviathan dreadnought as part of the much celebrated Dreadtober!

I still haven't decided whether to keep the World Eaters detachment when I'm finished with them or not just yet. I'm just going to see how it goes for the moment as I haven't had many games to play test them alongside a full primary detachment. I'm thinking of allying them with my Iron Warriors as they are a nice fit thematically. 

So what lies ahead in 2025?

I'm still yet to finish the reviews of the Battle for Beta-Garmon. This is getting closer to being done though and shouldn't take too much longer (aiming for the end of the season at least). I need to get my hands on the new Mechanicum book as well soon enough. And then there's the rest of the legacy units to plough through. So plenty more reviews yet to come. 

In terms of miniatures, collecting, and painting, I'm thinking of maybe expanding my Mechanicum mini-force slightly to make a full (if minimal) primary detachment. I am more considering some Black Shields though - I just need to determine which my favourite Oaths are. Its actually a really hard choice! I might also get a unit of Solar Auxilia las rifle men to be ruled over by an Overseer when the space marine model for that gets released. 

As for the new model of Fulgrim in daemon form, I think I might give it a pass for the moment. I am not a fan of the face - the Forge World resin one is simply better in my humble opinion, although I do like the rest of it. 

Wishing you all a happy 2025!